Month: July 2026

“Dear Heavenly Father, please heal me from this miserable cold. It has been over a month since I came down with it, and I’m still coughing.”

That was my prayer before going to bed one evening. This was the worst cold I have ever experienced. Although the runny nose and sore throat had resolved, I was still battling a persistent tickle in my throat and an exhausting cough. After more than a month, I was ready for it to be over.

About an hour after falling asleep, I awoke in a violent coughing fit followed by a sudden, sharp pain in my right rib cage. As a physician, I suspected I had strained the muscles between my ribs—or perhaps even fractured a rib—from the force of the coughing. The pain was so severe that I could barely move. Worse, every attempt to cough only intensified the pain.

I got out of bed and told my wife that I needed to go to the emergency room. Within thirty minutes, I had been evaluated, given pain medication and a cough suppressant, and undergone a chest X-ray and EKG. Thankfully, there was no pneumonia, no heart problem, and no rib fracture.

As the medications began to work, something unexpected happened. For the first time in over a month, I experienced real relief. The next morning, I reflected on the prayer I had offered only hours before. I had asked God to heal me. I never imagined that His answer would begin with my condition becoming even worse. A violent coughing spell left me with bruised rib muscles and sent me to the emergency room. Yet through that unexpected chain of events, God provided exactly the care I needed and the relief I had been praying for.

How often do we assume we know how God should answer our prayers? We ask Him for healing, guidance, or deliverance, and we quietly imagine the path He should take. But God’s providence often leads us by a road we never would have chosen.

Joseph certainly never would have chosen betrayal, slavery, or prison. Yet those very hardships became the path God used to accomplish His greater purpose. My experience was infinitely smaller, but it reminded me of the same truth: I can make my plans—even my expectations of how God should answer—but the Lord lovingly directs my steps according to His perfect wisdom.

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

Looking back, I thank God for hearing my prayer. His answer was not what I expected. It first involved greater pain before bringing relief, but through it all He faithfully led me to exactly what I needed. Once again, He reminded me that I can trust Him—not only when I understand His ways, but also when I don’t.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #answeredprayer #Proverbs16:9

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“The providence of God is like Hebrew—it is read backwards.”
John Flavel

When I first walked into Divine Mother’s modest living room as a skeptical college freshman, I believed I was simply accompanying my father to a meditation meeting. I had no idea that decision would alter the course of my life. At the time, I could only see the next step. Over four decades later, I can finally see the path. The Search for Truth was never merely the story of my search for God. It was the story of God’s patient pursuit of me.

Many years after I left the movement and placed my faith in Jesus Christ, Divine Mother died. For those who believed she was God’s final prophet, her death presented an unavoidable question: Who would lead the movement now? One of her closest disciples soon declared herself to be the new Divine Mother.

Although many accepted her claim, the movement quickly changed. The unity that had once held the group together began to fracture. Rivalries surfaced. Loyalties were tested. Arguments replaced harmony. The very community that had claimed to have conquered the ego became consumed by it.

A schism developed.

My father watched it all unfold.

He had sincerely devoted years of his life to this movement because he believed he had found truth. Instead, he found disappointment. Disillusioned by the hypocrisy and petty emotions so openly displayed by the new leadership and its followers, he quietly walked away.

He never returned.

Although he abandoned the movement, he did not embrace Christianity. He still believed that some kind of god existed, but not the God who had revealed Himself through Jesus Christ. By then, our spiritual journeys had taken very different directions. Yet one irony has never been lost on me. During the year we spent together in that movement, my father and I became closer than we had ever been.

We attended meetings together. We discussed spiritual questions together. For the first time in my life, we were searching for life’s deepest questions side by side. Looking back, I believe that relationship itself was a gift from God. The movement that ultimately proved false became the unexpected setting where a father and son learned to know one another in a way they never had before.

When I became a Christian, however, our paths separated once again. I could no longer follow him. But I never stopped loving him. For the remainder of his life, I looked for opportunities to tell him about Jesus Christ. I never argued simply to win a debate. I wanted my father to know the Savior who had rescued me. Sometimes we talked at length. Sometimes he simply listened. Sometimes he politely disagreed.

I prayed that one day he would come to know the same grace that had transformed my life. That opportunity came one final time. After suffering a massive heart attack, my father lay unconscious in a hospital in Honolulu. I was in Los Angeles. Knowing he was nearing the end of his life, I called the hospital. My sister stood beside his bed and gently held the telephone to his ear. From nearly twenty-five hundred miles away, I spoke to my father one last time. I told him that I loved him. I told him that Jesus Christ loved him. I reminded him that salvation is not earned through meditation, enlightenment, good works, or religious devotion. It is the free gift of God’s grace, purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross and received through faith alone.

Then I pleaded with him. If he could somehow still hear my voice, I asked him to place his trust in Jesus Christ. Finally, I prayed. Whether he heard me, I do not know. Whether, in those final moments known only to God, he called upon the name of Christ, I cannot say. That answer belongs to God alone.

I still hope that one day I will embrace my earthly father again—not separated by an ocean and a telephone line, but face to face in the presence of our heavenly Father, where faith has become sight and every tear has been wiped away.

As I reflect upon this entire journey, one truth stands above every other. God never approved of the deception that captured my heart. But He was never absent from it. At the time, I thought I had found truth. Instead, God was using even my mistakes to prepare me for the day I would finally encounter the Truth Himself.

The movement taught me that all religions lead to God. Jesus declared,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV)

The movement taught me to look within myself. The gospel taught me to look to Christ.

The movement promised enlightenment. The gospel offered forgiveness.

The movement spoke of becoming one with God. The Bible revealed something far greater—that through Jesus Christ, sinful men and women can be reconciled to a holy God.

Looking back now, I can see that even my years of wandering were not outside God’s sovereign hand. The evil itself was never good. The deception was real. The false teaching was dangerous. Yet God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, overruled it all. He used my father’s search to soften his heart toward spiritual things. He used my own search to strip away my pride and my contempt for God. He used my deepest questions to prepare me to recognize the answers found only in Scripture. What Satan intended to use to keep me from Christ, God transformed into the very road that led me to Him.

If there is one lesson I hope readers take from my story, it is this:

No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace.

No life is too tangled for His redemption.

No sincere search for truth is wasted when it ultimately leads to Jesus Christ.

For many years, I believed I was searching for God. In reality…

He had been searching for me all along.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #epilogue #Genesis50:20

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“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
Blaise Pascal

Several years after I left Divine Mother and became a Christian, I finally had the opportunity to answer a question that had lingered in my mind ever since I left her movement. During one of our sessions, after I challenged her to explain several passages from the Bible through the lens of her universalistic teaching, she suddenly closed her eyes and declared, “My son is a Catholic priest… and he knows who I am.”

At the time, her statement was strangely reassuring. If even a Catholic priest accepted his own mother’s teachings, perhaps I simply didn’t understand Christianity as well as I thought I did. But after I came to faith in Jesus Christ, her words became deeply puzzling. If what she said was true—and I had no reason to doubt that she believed it—how could a man who had devoted his life to serving Christ also embrace teachings that seemed to contradict His words?

Had I misunderstood Christianity? Was my understanding of God still too narrow? Years later, I finally had the opportunity to ask him myself. By then, I had come to believe that Jesus Christ was the only way to the Father and that the Bible was God’s complete and authoritative Word. Yet I still wanted to hear how he reconciled his mother’s teachings with the words of Jesus.

I asked him directly, “How do you reconcile your mother’s teaching with what Jesus said:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 (ESV)

He answered without hesitation, “There are many truths. She is teaching one of them.”

His response immediately answered the question that had lingered in my mind for years. If Jesus spoke the truth, then there could not be many conflicting truths about God. Truth does not contradict itself. Either Jesus is the only way to the Father, or He is not.

As I continued studying the Scriptures, I became increasingly aware that this was not an isolated encounter. Over the years, I have met many sincere and religious people who profess to follow Jesus Christ while teaching ideas that quietly contradict His words. Sometimes His miracles are explained away as legends or exaggerations. Sometimes His resurrection is reduced to symbolism. Other times, the authority of Scripture is mixed with philosophies and beliefs that ultimately replace the gospel itself.

On the surface, the language often sounds familiar. Jesus is mentioned. The Bible is quoted. God is spoken of with reverence. But when those teachings are examined in the light of Scripture, they tell a different story. One of the most important lessons God taught me during my search for truth was not to judge a message by the sincerity of the speaker, by religious titles, or by outward appearances. Every teaching—even one that sounds spiritual—must be tested against the Word of God. That lesson has stayed with me throughout my Christian life.

Jesus Himself warned that false teachers would come, not always looking like enemies of the faith, but often appearing convincing enough to deceive many.

There is only one Truth because there is only one God.

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod 

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“Peace if possible. Truth at all costs.”

Martin Luther

When I told my father I had become a Christian, I wasn’t sure how he would respond. To my surprise, he simply smiled. “I’m glad you’ve found God,” he said. “Just like I did.”

I hadn’t expected that. After everything that had changed in my life, he wasn’t angry or disappointed. He was genuinely happy for me. His response gave me hope. Perhaps my meeting with Divine Mother would go just as smoothly. I wanted peace. But I already knew that if I had to choose between peace and truth, the choice had been made. There was one final conversation I could no longer avoid.

For more than a year, Divine Mother had been my spiritual guide. She had welcomed me into her home, patiently answered my questions, and encouraged my search for God. I respected her deeply and was genuinely grateful for the time she had invested in me. Now I had to tell her that my search had ended. Not because I had abandoned God. Because I had found Jesus Christ.

When we met, everything seemed normal. She greeted me warmly. We exchanged a few pleasantries, and I began sharing everything that had happened over the past several months. She nodded. She smiled. I couldn’t tell whether she was really listening. Then I explained why my beliefs had changed. As I studied the Scriptures, I had become convinced that Jesus was not simply another prophet pointing toward God. He was God incarnate—the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.

I shared the gospel with her as gently as I could, explaining why I could no longer reconcile her teachings with the words of Christ. As I spoke, I noticed her expression changing. The smile disappeared. Her face tightened. The serenity that had always characterized her slowly vanished. Then, without warning, she exploded.

“I GIVE YOU YOUR FREEDOM!”

“GO!”

The room fell silent. I sat there stunned. For more than a year she had taught that the greatest obstacle to spiritual enlightenment was the ego. The ego had to be emptied. We were to rise above anger, pride, and personal offense. Yet the moment I disagreed with her, everything she had taught seemed to disappear. She wasn’t responding with the calm detachment she had always modeled. She was taking my decision personally. The woman who had taught me to eliminate the ego was having what I could only describe as a temper tantrum. For the first time, I saw a profound contradiction between her teaching and her life.

I quietly thanked her for the time she had spent with me, stood up, and walked out the door. Outside, I expected to feel relieved. Instead, I felt unsettled. For over a year, my entire understanding of God had been shaped by her teaching. Now I had walked away from it forever. A question suddenly entered my mind. Had I just walked away from God? Or had I finally found Him? The doubt was brief, but it was real. Leaving a false belief is not as simple as opening a door and walking away. It takes time for the heart to catch up with what the mind already knows.

When I arrived home, I fell to my knees. There were no carefully chosen words. Only one desperate prayer. “Lord…Please reassure me. Please let me know that I have found the truth.”

The answer came immediately. Not through a vision. Not through an audible voice. But through an overwhelming peace unlike anything I had ever experienced. Every fear disappeared. Every doubt melted away. The Lord quietly assured me that I belonged to Him.

Over the years, I have often thought about Divine Mother’s final words. “I give you your freedom.” At the time, they sounded like a dismissal. Today, I hear them differently. She couldn’t give me freedom. No teacher can. No philosophy can. No religion can.

Only Jesus Christ can.

Without realizing it, she spoke words that pointed to a far greater truth than she intended. The freedom she claimed to give lasted only until I walked out her door. The freedom Christ gave me has lasted a lifetime.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36 (ESV)

For years, I believed Christianity would take away my freedom. Instead, I discovered that true freedom begins only when we surrender to the One who gave His life to set us free. The woman who claimed to give me my freedom simply showed me the door.

Jesus Christ gave me a new life.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Igiveyouyourfreedom #John8:36

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“The longest way round is the shortest way home.”
Attributed to C.S. Lewis

Weeks passed. Perhaps only days. I honestly can’t remember. What I do remember is that after I prayed, something had changed. Outwardly, life continued as usual. I attended classes, studied in the physics library, and met with Jake nearly every Sunday evening. Nothing miraculous happened. There was no voice from heaven, no dream, no dramatic sign.

But inwardly, one statement of Jesus would not leave me alone.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV)

Those words echoed through my mind as I walked across campus, sat in class, studied late into the night, and lay awake in bed. For months I had believed that all sincere religions ultimately led to the same God. That belief had become one of the central teachings of the movement I had embraced.

But Jesus left no room for that conclusion. He did not claim to be a way. He claimed to be the way. Either He was telling the truth… or He was not. There was no middle ground. I realized that my search was no longer about comparing religions. It had become a question of whether I believed Jesus Himself.

Then came the week before Easter, 1982. One night I lay awake in my dorm room. Sleep would not come. I stared into the darkness as thoughts raced through my mind. For more than an hour I tossed and turned, replaying everything that had happened over the past several months. Jake’s patient answers. Our Sunday evening Bible studies. The countless questions I had brought him. His simple challenge: “Then ask Him.”

I had done exactly that. Now I found myself standing at a crossroads. If Jesus really was who He claimed to be…everything would have to change. I thought about my father. He had introduced me to meditation. He had found peace there. How could I now tell him that I believed Jesus alone was the way to God? Then I thought about Divine Mother. She sincerely believed she was leading people to God. She had shown me nothing but kindness. How could I reject everything she had taught?

Then another thought came. What if I was wrong? What if I had misunderstood everything? But that question was immediately followed by another. What if Jesus was right? John 14:6 echoed in my mind once again. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Those words refused to let me go. I realized that I wasn’t wrestling with science. I wasn’t wrestling with philosophy. I wasn’t even wrestling with religion. I was wrestling with Jesus Himself. Looking back, I know I was wrestling with God. The struggle wasn’t over the evidence anymore. The evidence had convinced me. The real battle was surrender. My pride wanted one more answer. One more sign. One more reassurance.

But faith doesn’t begin when every question has been answered. Faith begins when we trust the One who has answered enough. Finally… I could resist no longer. Into the darkness of that quiet dorm room I cried out, “Okay, God! You win!”

The battle inside me was over. At that very instant there was the briefest flash of light. It lasted less than a second. Yet it was unmistakable. I immediately opened my eyes and looked around the room. Everything appeared normal. The room was still dark. Nothing else had changed. I wasn’t even sure what had just happened.

Had I become a Christian?

I honestly didn’t know.

The next morning I awoke. The campus looked exactly the same. My dorm room looked exactly the same. I knelt beside my bed and prayed again. “Lord, please confirm what happened.” Again…Nothing extraordinary happened.

No visions. No voices. No overwhelming emotions. But something had changed. The anxiety that had followed me for months was gone. In its place was a peace I had never experienced before. Quiet. Deep. Certain. Somewhere deep within, I simply knew. Jesus Christ was exactly who He claimed to be. He was God. He was my Lord. He was my Savior.

I didn’t tell Jake immediately. About a week later, I finally shared what had happened. His face lit up. He smiled and said, “Praise God! I’ve been praying for you!” We embraced. It was different than any embrace we had shared before. Until then, he had been my friend. Now he was my brother in Christ. My search for truth was over.

But even in that moment of joy, I knew another confrontation awaited me. The semester would soon end. I would be returning to Hawaii. And there were two people I knew I had to tell.

My father.

And Divine Mother.

I had no idea how they would respond.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #OkGodYouWin #Romans5:1

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“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
Attributed to C.S. Lewis

That night, I walked slowly back to my dorm. Normally, after spending an evening talking with Jake, my mind would be racing. I would replay every conversation, testing his answers against my own reasoning and trying to think of new questions for the following Sunday. But this night was different. There were no more arguments to analyze. No more questions to ask. No more passages of Scripture to examine. For the first time in months, Jake had given me no new evidence to consider. He had simply challenged me to do something I had never done before.

As I walked across the quiet campus, I found myself thinking less about what Jake believed and more about my own search. For months, I had immersed myself in questions. I had compared Christianity with the teachings of Divine Mother. I had listened carefully to Jake explain the Bible. I had wrestled with the claims of Jesus. I had read the Scriptures with an open mind. I had questioned assumptions I had held for years. More than anything else, I wanted to know the truth.

Then a thought suddenly stopped me. I had spent months trying to determine whether God existed…without ever speaking to Him. The irony was almost embarrassing. If I genuinely wanted to know the truth…why hadn’t I simply asked? Perhaps because I wasn’t convinced anyone was there. Prayer seemed like something religious people did. People who already believed. Not skeptics. Not science majors. Certainly not me. But if I was completely honest, there was another reason. I was afraid. Not afraid that nothing would happen. I was afraid that something might. If there really was a God…and if He answered…my entire understanding of reality could change.

By the time I reached my dorm room, I had made my decision. I was going to pray. I quietly closed the door behind me. The room was still. For a few moments, I simply stood there. I had never prayed before. Not once. I wasn’t raised praying. I didn’t know whether I should kneel. Fold my hands. Close my eyes. Or simply speak. Did any of those things matter? I had no idea.

Eventually, I knelt beside my bed. Not because anyone had taught me to. It simply felt like the right thing to do. For several moments, I couldn’t say anything. It felt awkward. Almost foolish. Was I really about to speak into an empty room? Or was Someone actually listening? Finally, I took a deep breath. Then I began.

“God…I don’t know if You’re there. But if You are…
I don’t know who You are.
I don’t know if You’re the God Jake has been telling me about.
I don’t know if You’re the God of the Bible.
I don’t know if You’re the God that Divine Mother teaches.
I don’t know if You’re the God of the Hindus.
I honestly don’t know.
But if there is one true God…if You are real…please reveal Yourself to me. I don’t want to believe something simply because someone told me it was true. I don’t want to reject the truth because of my own pride. I want to know what is true. Wherever the truth leads… give me the courage to follow it. Please show me.”

That was all. No dramatic ending. No emotional experience. No voice from heaven. No vision. No unmistakable sign. Only silence. For several minutes, I remained there, listening. Nothing. Eventually, I stood up and climbed into bed. As I stared into the darkness, I wondered if I had just spent the last few minutes talking to myself. If there was a God…had He heard me? Or had I simply spoken into an empty room? I didn’t know. Within minutes, I was asleep.

Looking back now, I can see that this simple prayer marked the turning point of my search. I thought heaven had remained silent. I had no idea that God had already begun answering my prayer. But His answer would come in a way I never could have imagined.

To be continued…

If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
John 7:17 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #theprayer #John7:17

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Voter ID continues to make headlines. Supporters argue that an official government-issued photo ID helps verify a person’s identity before voting. Opponents raise concerns about access and discrimination. Whatever one’s view of the policy itself, nearly everyone recognizes that identification is required for many important activities. We use IDs to board airplanes, open bank accounts, obtain passports, and complete countless other transactions.

But the Bible speaks of another kind of identification—one that matters far more than any government-issued ID. Many people identify themselves as Christians. They attend church, know Bible stories, and openly profess faith in Christ. Yet Jesus gave a sobering warning:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven…
Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)

Those are sobering words. Outward profession is not the same as genuine faith. God knows those who truly belong to His Son. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ are not trusting in their own works or outward profession, but in His finished work on the cross. Because of His grace, they can have the assurance that their names are written in the Book of Life. The Bible describes a day when every one of us will stand before Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. On that day, the ultimate question will not be what we claimed on earth, but whether our names are written in the Book of Life.

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15 (ESV)

These words are not meant to produce fear in those who trust in Christ, but to encourage honest self-examination. Yet for those whose faith rests in Christ alone, they are also words of great assurance.

One day, none of us will stand before Jesus Christ carrying a driver’s license, passport, or voter registration card.

Every earthly form of identification will have lost its value.

Only one question will remain:

Is your name written in the Book of Life?

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #voterID #spiritualID #Revelation20:15 #Matthew7:21-23

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“There is enough light for those who desire only to see, and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition.”
Blaise Pascal

The meeting in the Physics Library was not the end of the story. It was the beginning. Jake invited me to church the following Sunday evening, and I accepted. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why. Christianity wasn’t the direction I thought my search was heading. I was convinced that truth would ultimately be found by looking beyond the boundaries of any one religion.

Yet I went. The church service itself was pleasant, but it wasn’t what kept me coming back. It was what happened afterward. Every Sunday evening, after dinner, we would return to his dorm room to sit and talk. Before long, it became our routine. Jake would usually begin by asking if I was still reading the Bible.

“I am,” I would answer.

Then the questions would begin. Our conversations wandered across almost every subject imaginable: God and evolution, science and faith, sin and forgiveness, the reliability of the Bible, why Jesus had to die, and whether Christianity could really claim to be the only true faith. One topic came up again and again.

Why is Jesus God?

Oddly enough, I rarely argued with Jake on that point. “I believe Jesus is God,” I would tell him. The words sounded the same, but they meant something entirely different. I believed Jesus was divine because I believed everyone possessed the divine within them. Jesus had simply realized it more fully than anyone else. Divine Mother taught something similar. Jesus was extraordinary, but He was not unique.

Jake believed something altogether different. Jesus wasn’t merely a man who had discovered God. He was God who had become man. At first the distinction seemed almost insignificant. The longer we talked, the more I realized it changed everything.

I enjoyed our discussions more than I expected. Jake never seemed interested in winning an argument. If I raised a question he couldn’t answer, he didn’t bluff or change the subject. “I don’t know,” he would say. “Let me look into it.” The next Sunday he almost always returned with an answer. I respected that. As a science major, I had learned that admitting what you don’t know isn’t weakness. It’s honesty. I questioned almost everything.

If God is loving, why does evil exist?

Why would a loving God judge anyone?

How could Jesus be the only way to God?

Why should the Bible be trusted above every other religious book?

Week after week we circled back to the same questions. Sometimes it felt as though neither of us had moved an inch. Looking back, that wasn’t true. I thought I was putting Christianity under the microscope. In reality, my own beliefs were being examined. For over a year, I had accepted the teachings of Divine Mother because they seemed to make sense. Now, for the first time, someone was asking me why I believed them. As a scientist, I believed every hypothesis should be tested. I was finally allowing my own worldview to be tested as well.

One Sunday evening, after several hours of talking, Jake became unusually quiet. He looked directly at me. “Are you really looking for God?”

“Yes.”

“Are you really searching for the truth?”

“Of course I am,” I replied. “I wouldn’t be spending all these hours talking with you if I wasn’t.”

He nodded. “I just wanted to make sure. Sometimes I wonder whether you’re trying to understand or whether you simply enjoy arguing. We keep coming back to the same points.”

I smiled. “I probably do enjoy debating,” I admitted. “But that’s not why I’m here. I honestly want to know God. I want to know what’s true.”

He waited a moment before speaking again. “Then ask Him.” I looked at him without saying a word. “Ask God to reveal Himself to you. If you sincerely ask Him, He will answer.”

I stared at him. “You’re promising me that?”

He didn’t hesitate. “I guarantee it.”

His confidence caught me off guard. In one sense it reminded me of Divine Mother. She also spoke with certainty. But there was a profound difference. Divine Mother pointed people toward herself. Jake pointed me toward Christ. He wasn’t trying to build a following. He wasn’t asking me to trust him. He was asking me to ask God.

That conversation stayed with me the rest of the evening. I kept turning his words over in my mind. What if nothing happened? But another question refused to leave me.

What if he was right?

If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:4–5 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Sundayevenings #Proverbs2:4-5

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“The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience.”
Leo Tolstoy

I had a habit in college. Rather than studying in the crowded main library, I rotated among the smaller departmental libraries scattered across campus. They were quieter, less distracting, and usually almost deserted. On any given evening, I could spread my books across an entire table without anyone interrupting me.

That night, I chose the physics library. It was exactly as I had hoped. Long rows of empty tables stretched beneath the fluorescent lights. The only sounds were the faint hum of the air conditioner and the occasional rustle of turning pages. I could see the darkness settling outside the tall windows as another Southern California evening slipped quietly into night.

Only one other student was there. I recognized him immediately. We had taken Japanese together. As I walked past the circulation desk, he looked up.

“You’re Paul, right?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled.

“I thought so.”

“You’re Jake?”

He nodded. For some reason, instead of continuing to my table, I stopped.

“Are you a physics major?”

He laughed. “No. Economics.”

He motioned around the nearly empty room. “I’m on work-study. I’m the evening library monitor.”

I looked around the room. “There can’t be more than two people in here.”

He grinned. “Exactly.”

“So they pay you to study?”

“Pretty much.”

I laughed. “Best campus job I’ve heard of.”

We exchanged a few more pleasantries before I found a table near one of the windows. Within minutes I was absorbed in my own studies. The hours slipped by unnoticed. Eventually I stood to stretch my legs. As I wandered past the circulation desk, I noticed Jake had finished studying. His economics textbook had been replaced by a well-worn Bible.

Without thinking, I spoke. “Reading the Bible?” I immediately realized I had stated the obvious.

He looked up from the page. “Yeah.”

Then he asked a question I wasn’t expecting. “Are you a Christian?”

I hesitated. “No…”

The word escaped before I could stop it. “I mean…”

I searched for a better answer. “Yes.”

Even to my own ears, it sounded confusing. Trying to explain myself, I added, “I believe all religions are paths to the same God.”

His expression never changed. He didn’t challenge me. He didn’t look surprised. He simply nodded.

“I see.”

After a brief pause, he asked, “Do you read the Bible?”

“Sure.” I smiled. “I read everything.” “The Bible. The Bhagavad Gita. The Buddhist sutras.”

I was quietly proud of how open-minded I had become. To me, truth wasn’t confined to one religion. Every faith contained pieces of the same divine reality.

Jake listened without interruption. Finally, he closed his Bible. “That’s good.”

Another pause.

“You should keep reading the Bible.”

That was all. No debate. No sermon. No attempt to convince me that I was wrong. Just one simple sentence.

I smiled politely. “Yeah. Maybe I will.”

That evening, I packed my books and walked back to my dorm convinced I had simply enjoyed a pleasant conversation with another student. I had no idea that our paths would continue to cross. Within a few weeks, we were sharing meals together. Within a few months, nearly every Sunday evening found me sitting in Jake’s dorm room, talking about God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.

I couldn’t have known it then, but one quiet evening in an almost empty physics library had marked the beginning of one of the most important friendships of my life.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105 (ESV)

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #theemptylibrary #Proverbs16:9

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“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”
Isaac Newton

When I first began attending Divine Mother’s meetings, I was convinced I had finally found the answers I had been searching for. Her teaching seemed to bring together everything I admired about the world’s great religions. Instead of competing with one another, they complemented each other. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other faiths were simply different paths leading to the same God.

The idea was elegant. It was compassionate. It was inclusive. It made perfect sense to me. Meditation became an important part of my daily life, but before long I realized it wasn’t enough. Questions about God continued to fill my mind long after the meditation sessions ended. I wanted something I could return to every day. Something I could read slowly. Something I could think about when I was alone.

Although Divine Mother never encouraged us to read the Bible, I asked her if it would be acceptable for me to do so. She had no objection. I wasn’t trying to challenge what she taught. I simply wanted to know God better. As I began reading, much of what I found seemed to harmonize with what I had already learned. Passages about love, humility, forgiveness, and devotion resonated deeply with me. The more I read, the more convinced I became that Christianity confirmed what Divine Mother had been teaching all along.

Then I came to a verse that stopped me in my tracks.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 (ESV)

I read it again.

Then again.

This wasn’t simply a teacher offering wise advice. Jesus wasn’t saying He knew the way. He was saying that He was the way. And then came the words I couldn’t escape:

“No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I closed my Bible and sat in silence. How could both be true? Divine Mother taught that all religions ultimately led to the same God. Jesus seemed to be saying something entirely different. He wasn’t presenting Himself as one path among many. He was presenting Himself as the only way. For the first time since embracing Divine Mother’s teachings, I encountered a question I could not reconcile. I wasn’t looking for an argument. I wasn’t trying to prove anyone wrong. I genuinely wanted both teachings to fit together. But the harder I tried, the more impossible that seemed. The question followed me everywhere. To class. To the library. Back to my dorm. Late into the night. I still believed I had found God. But for the first time…I wondered if I had misunderstood Jesus.

I had no idea that, at that very time, God was quietly arranging a meeting that would forever change the direction of my search. It would happen in one of the emptiest places on campus.

The physics library.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #HowCouldBothBeTrue #John14:6

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